Page 80 of Broken

I let my foot drop back to the floor, my shoelaces still untied, and looked up at the small group of guys that had had mine and Jet’s backs for years. Every one of them waiting for a response. I sighed. “Yeah. It’s true.”

Corey gaped while Noah exclaimed loud enough for the whole fucking locker room to hear. “I can’t believe it! We were hoping it was just a rumor. ItisIzzy, after all.”

“Yeah, but it’s alsome, right?” I grated before exchanging a look with Jet, daring him to argue.

“Bro…”

I shook my head. “Whatever. It’s not a rumor.”

Shouts and groans erupted from my crew. “Bro, how could you be so stupid? Mateo asked once the commotion died down. “Carrying around condoms is one of the main purposes of a wallet.”

“It’s not like we planned on it,” I snapped. “It happened too fast for me to really even think about it.”

“It happened too fast, huh?” Mateo smirked as he nudged Kyle in the arm.

“Not what I meant, and you’d be an expert on things happening too fast, wouldn’t you?” I retorted, bringing into play a rumor from junior year when Mateo had managed to score a senior.

He scowled and started grabbing his clothes from his locker. “I still say she exaggerated.”

“You’re not gonna quit basketball over this, are you?” Noah asked next, and I scowled.

“I think I can manage to still play ball even though my girlfriend’s pregnant.”

“Just checking, man. I’d hate to see you lose focus over this. Scouts will pick up on that, even if you’ve got more talent than anyone else on the team. I mean, you haven’t officially signed with anyone yet.”

“So, are y’all gonna take care of the situation?” Kyle asked more seriously then.

By his tone, we all knew what he meant. I shot him a look of disgust and went back to putting on my shoes.

“Hey, someone had to ask,” he grumbled.

“We were all thinking it,” Corey defended.

“Well, most of the guys have been wondering why Tucker Pierce decided to settle on one chick when just about every girl on the Ridge drools over him like fucking candy. I guess now we’ve got our answer,” Noah commented, running his comb through his already perfect hair.

A rush of anger flared through me, and I stood, snatching my bag from the floor.Like hell they have an answer.They didn’t have a clue about anything.

“Fuck off,” I spat, glowering as I stormed out the doors, pushing so hard they slammed into the outside wall as I left. Before the doors closed, I heard Jet say, “Y’all are all idiots.”

ANNIE

“Oh, come on, Ems. It wasn’t anything personal,” I begged as I headed down the hall with Emma to my locker. “We didn’t tellanyoneabout it.”

“I don’t see how I’mnotsupposed to take it personally. I really thought that we were close. Not in y’all’s main group close, but still close. Enough that you could trust me. I didn’t tell anyone when Izzy mentioned she and Tucker were fighting. Why would I do it about this? Which, yeah, I know, it’s like two entirely different scales, but damn it. Really, I thought we were close enough to share things like that.” Emma huffed, the hurt clear in her features gutting my middle. I hated that we’d let her down.Because she was right. Shewasa good friend. She was awesome. She just wasn’t one of thecore.

I pursed my lips and released a frustrated breath. “Emma, please.” I tried again. “Youarea good friend, and it has nothing to do with not trusting you.”

“Then what is it? I’d really like to know so that the next time there’s some big secret, I’ll know why I’m not in the loop.”

“I’m sorry, Emma,” Izzy chimed in, overhearing us as we reached my locker. “It was me, really. I just wanted to keep it under wraps for a while. The more people that knew, the easier it was for one of us to slip up and let the news out. Not on purpose, of course. It’s just that…” She made a face. “Tucker and I wanted to hold off on the drama as long as possible. And I really haven’t even known that long if it helps.”

“Kind of.” She looked at Izzy for a few seconds before her frown relaxed into an understanding smile. “And yeah, I guess I can see where you were coming from.”

“Thanks.” Izzy smiled while I sighed in relief.

“Yeah, it sucked having you mad at me.”

“Well, I’m still annoyed, but I’ll get over it.” Emma looked down at her watch. “I’ve got to run to my locker. I’ll see you in class, Annie. Later, Izzy.”

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